Author: Bela Andrew Evans
Date: 03:03:31 04/15/98
Having recently taken up the Najdorf from the black side, I tested the opening by playing many games against the computers on FICS. I was getting crushed repeatedly in blitz, especially by computers playing the Bg5 line. In particular, I remember getting hit with knight sacs on b5 time after time. But the experience got me to thinking about how much stronger computers are in open and sharp tactical positions. I've never heard anyone dispute this, and isn't it logical that programmers would try to get their programs to go into those types of positions, either by playing certain openings, or by algorithms that favored open positions? If so, then Fritz 5, supposedly being the fastest searcher, should do well when playing other computer programs. If all the chess programs are aiming for sharp open play, the program that finds more tactics should win. Thus, the #1 ranking on the SSDF list. However, it's hard to say if other more positional programs might do better against humans. At least, a lot of people have pointed to some positionally ugly Fritz 5 moves and claimed that it was easy to draw against Fritz 5, or that so and so slow searching but positionally smart program could hold its own in a small match. <Continued Next Post>
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